Tokyo-born photographer Osamu Kanemura (b. 1964) transitioned from punk rock to experimental films in the 1980s before studying photography.
In 1990 he entered the Tokyo College of Photography, and before graduating in 1993, he was invited to the Photography Biennale, Rotterdam.

In 1996 Kanemura-San took part of the New Photography 12 Exhibition at the famous MoMA of New York alongside Richard Billingham, Thomas Demand, Osamu Kanemura, Sophie Ristelhueber, Georgina Starr, Wolfgang Tillmans ( here the link to the MoMA website )

Marshmallow Brainwash is the first photobook published by Kanemura's publishing label, Killer Agent, launched in 2020. It contains just BW 6x7 film photographs which Kanemura took (and still takes) with his Makina 67, the ONLY camera (repaired many and many times, it’s a Makina c’mon) he has been using in ALL his career.

As written on the Metropolis magazine:
..Kanemura found inspiration and a recurring subject in the period that followed and the struggles Japan faced as it entered economic stagnation in the early 1990s. These themes would continue to appear in his works long after Japan’s “lost decade.”

“At the time, Tokyo’s landscape was extremely unbalanced, with empty lots beside towering skyscrapers. It was a crazy time,” Kanemura recalled vividly.

For Kanemura, Tokyo today may have recovered from that period, but the urban disorganization of this era remain.
“Beautiful Tokyo is a lie. The dark side of Tokyo is what’s true,” he added sternly.

Kanemura draws his inspirations from Western, mostly American, contemporary photographers like Lewis Baltz and Lee Friedlander [...] While other photographers may prefer human subjects and seek to magnify emotions, Kanemura opts to explore lines and spaces.

“I like going the opposite way. No drama, no romanticism. Just lines and shapes,” he explained.

Just a quick personal note.
I’ve been following and admiring Kanemura’s work for more than 10 years now.
His consistency and perseverance are HUGE teachings for me, in a world where images that we see are algorithm-driven and AI-generated.
In my opinion follow photographers that can speak so loud just looking at their body of work is everyday inspiration.
So have signed book of a living photographer whom I look as a master has gold-value.

P.s Just in case, all the 200 copies of this book are Sold Out now (2024)

Small selection of Kanemura’s works/book:

• 'Happiness is a Red before Exploding' (2000)

• 'I can tell' (2001)

• 'Spider's Strategy' (2001)

• 'My Name Is Shockhammer' (2007)

• 'German Suplex' (2008)

• 'Stravinsky Overdrive (ストラビンスキー オーバードライブ, 2010)

• 'Ectoplasm Profiling' (2014)

• 'Concrete Octopus' (2017)

• 'Beta Exercise: The Theory and Practice of Osamu Kanemura' (2019)

• 'Marshmallow Brain Wash' (2020)

• 'Lead Palsy Terminal' (2021)

• 'God Only Speed Knows' (2022)
  

  Find out more about Kanemura and his works at
  Artist’s website: https://kanemura-osamu.com
  and his Instagram: @osamukanemura

Thanks for reading